The Haftarah read on Shabbat Shuba – the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – is among the most famous Haftarot read throughout the year. Taken from the Book of Hoshea, it begins with the prophet Hoshea's timeless cry, "Shuba Yisrael Ad Hashem Elokecha" – "Return, O Israel, unto Hashem your G-d" (Hoshea 14:2).
The Midrash (Bereshit Rabba 84:19) traces the origins of this prophecy all the way back to the Book of Bereshit, to the story of the sale of Yosef.
After the brothers lifted Yosef from the pit and sold him to merchants, the Torah writes, "Va'yashab Reuben El Ha'bor" – the oldest brother, Reuben, "returned to the pit" (Bereshit 37:29). The Midrash raises the question of where Reuben had gone that he is now described as "returning." The answer, the Midrash explains, is that Reuben had left to resume his prayers and repentance for his sin involving his stepmother, Bilha. After Rachel – Yaakob Abinu's primary wife – passed away, Yaakob moved his bed into the tent of Bilha, Rachel's maidservant whom Yaakob had married. Reuben saw this as an affront to his mother, Leah, and so he moved Yaakob's bed out of Bilha's tent into Leah's tent. This meddling in his father's private affairs was considered a grave affront to his father, for which Reuben repented.
The Midrash continues that G-d declared to Reuben: "No person had ever sinned before Me and repented, and you were the first to initiate repentance." In reward, G-d proclaimed, Reuben's descendant – the prophet Hoshea – would be the one to call upon the people to repent.
Many writers addressed the question of how the Midrash could make such a claim – that nobody sinned and then repented before Reuben. Numerous sources speak of Adam repenting for his sin in Gan Eden, and of Kayin repenting for murdering his brother. In what way was Reuben the first person in world history to repent?
One answer given to this question lies in an important distinction between repentance inspired by external influences, and self-motivated repentance, which is driven by one's own desire for growth and for a close connection with Hashem.
An illustration of this distinction is the Gemara's discussion of the contrast between Beneh Yisrael's acceptance of the Torah at Mount Sinai, and the Jews' reaffirmation of this acceptance in the time of the Purim story. In Masechet Shabbat (88a), the Gemara relates that when Beneh Yisrael stood at Sinai, G-d uprooted the mountain and suspended it over their heads, threatening to destroy them if they did not accept the Torah. The Gemara adds that whereas the Torah was initially accepted under coercion, many centuries later – after the Jews were saved from Haman's threat – they accepted the Torah willingly, of their own volition. This has been explained to mean that at Sinai, the people beheld an unprecedented revelation of G-d, such that their free will was suspended. They were not actually "coerced"; rather, they beheld G-d so clearly that they could not even countenance the possibility of refusing the Torah. The revelation was so vivid that there was no other reasonable option. In direct contrast, in Persia, there was no revelation or overt miracles. Events transpired in a manner that appeared entirely random, with G-d's hand concealed behind the veil of the world's natural order. And at that time, the Jews reaffirmed their commitment to Torah through their own initiative, without any external influence or inspiration.
Both Adam and Kayin repented after G-d confronted them and reprimanded them for their wrongdoing. Their repentance was initiated by G-d, not by themselves. Reuben was the first one who initiated his process of repentance. No one came to him to criticize him for what he did. He recognized on his own that he had acted improperly, and performed Teshuba – thus becoming the first person to repent through his own motivation, without G-d or somebody else urging him to do so.
Of course there is great value in receiving inspiration, in accepting criticism, in exposing oneself to people who will open his eyes to what he needs to improve and how can can grow. However, the most enduring Teshuba is self-motivated Teshuba, a person's own initiative to change. Indeed, soon after G-d's revelation at Sinai, the people worshipped the golden calf. When repentance is driven by external factors, the process might not last once those factors are no longer present. The best chance we have for enduring change is to make the decision without inspiration from anybody or anything else, to understand on our own, without being told, that we need to improve.
This is Hoshea's call to us – "Shuba Yisrael." He is asking us to make the decision ourselves, not to wait to be told to correct our behavior, not to wait for a speaker to inspire us, or for some dramatic event to shake us up. If we really want to change, we need to jumpstart the process ourselves, without waiting for someone or something to start it for us.